Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 678 Extra Story (26) Dry Saint

"Clang... clang... clang..."

On August 22, with the arrival of Maoshi, the bell rang in Beijing.

For the people in Beijing at this moment, they don't know what the bell means, and they think it is the morning bell.

However, when the bell echoed from Mao to Chen, everyone noticed something was wrong.

In a market town outside Beijing, an old man in his [-]s sat under a tree at the gate of the courtyard, looking at the city of Beijing with a suspicious look on his face.

When the Beijing city bell hadn't stopped for a long time, the old man's eyes widened, as if recalling the long-lost memory.

"Grandpa, the morning bell is so long today."

In the courtyard, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy came out and wiped his cheeks with a towel.

However, when he removed the towel from his face, he saw his grandfather's crutches fell to the ground, and his grandfather also looked at with his mouth wide open, his eyes gradually blurred.

"grandfather?!"

"Father! Come out!"

The young man was taken aback by his grandfather, and hurried forward.

He shook the old man's house, and the people in the yard were called out by the young man's voice.

However, when all the family members walked out, the old man cried like a child:
"Long live... long live... long live him..."

The old man was crying intermittently, and more and more people came out of the courtyard around now, and listening to the old man's words, they gradually felt a bad feeling in their hearts.

Before they could inquire, more than ten young people came from a distance at this moment.

There are more than ten people in this town, all the people in the market town know each other, just because they are the officials who govern Nanchengji.

However, at this time, they no longer had official robes on them, and they were replaced by a suit of onyx.

At this moment, everyone's heart skipped a beat, and what the leading official said in the next second stunned everyone even more.

"Long live the grand tour last night, it was passed down to the Tianfu Yamen's edict that all temples and Taoist temples in the world will ring [-] bells, and the people of the world will be silent for [-] days, and no entertainment will be allowed!"

When the words of the leading official were spoken, more than a hundred people on the street were stunned, and the only thing left in their ears was the ringing bell...

While they were in a daze, the news of Emperor Tianqi's death spread to all directions in the capital.

Temples and Taoist temples in various provincial capitals and counties struck their bells for [-] one after another, and the banners of all cities were replaced with plain ones.

The white flags fluttered in the air, which seemed to indicate that an old era would fall, and a new era would stand up soon.

On August 23, the prince Zhu Ciran was located in the Huangji Hall, and Zhu Heyin was registered as the prince and Zhu Yixuan as the grandson.

After the enthronement procedure was completed, Zhu Ciran led all the officials to Jiyan Hall to mourn the funeral, and discussed the temple name and posthumous title of the former emperor before the funeral.

In this regard, Sun Kewang Shangshu, a cabinet minister, said: "The ancestors have made meritorious deeds and the ancestors have virtues. The achievements of Emperor Daxing should be reflected in the temple name "Shizu" and the posthumous title "Xiaowu"."

The temple name is different from the posthumous name. The top four characters in the temple name are mainly Tai, Zhong, Gao and Shi.

Taizu is generally given to the emperor who was first appointed, and the founder of the country is generally the emperor who was first appointed.

For example, in the Li Tang Dynasty, Li Hu was the first to receive the title, and Li Yuan was the first to receive the order. Therefore, Li Hu is the Taizu of Tang Dynasty, and Li Yuan is the Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty.

If Shi Shouming and Shi Shoufeng are the same person, then choose Taizu, such as Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang are Taizu.

Therefore, Gaozu is not a temple name that Zhu Youxiao can use, so only Shizu and Zhongzu are left.

Among them, Zhongzu needs the country to fall once, and then one person will carry it forward again, but the premise is that Shizu already has it, so that he can be Zhongzu.

As for the ancestors, they are generally awarded to those who carry forward their achievements.

The world has two meanings, one is that the branch becomes the great sect, and the other is to carry forward the achievements of the ancestors, so Emperor Jiajing is Sejong.

Right now, Zhu Youxiao fully meets Shizu's standards, so there is no problem in choosing his temple name as Shizu.

As for the posthumous titles, among the 140 beautiful posthumous titles, the posthumous titles of Wen, Wu, Cheng, Kang, Zhao, Mu, Xiao, Xuan, Ping, Huan, Jing, Xiang, Gao, Ming, Zhang and Da are the most. .

Among them, some have been used by the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the few who have not used them and are in line with Zhu Youxiao's achievements are probably only Wu, Cheng, and Kang.

Among these three posthumous titles, Emperor Wu is undoubtedly the best, so Sun Kewang is naturally used by Zhu Youxiao.

Faced with Sun Kewang's suggestion, Zhu Ciran did not refuse, but as a matter of course gave his father the temple name and posthumous title of Emperor Wu of the Ming Dynasty.

After determining the temple name and posthumous title, Zhu Ciran chose "Qiansheng" as the year name from among the year names recommended by hundreds of officials, and it will be used on Zhengdan next year.

After finishing these things, Zhu Ciran began to guard his father's spirit with peace of mind.

At the same time, along with the transmission of the news, the various countries also received the news of Emperor Tianqi's death.

All of a sudden, all the countries sent their sons to the capital one after another, and Qi State was among them.

According to "Zhou Rituals", Zhu Ciran sent the coffin to Changping after seven days of suspension.

Zhu Youxiao's imperial mausoleum was built in the 42nd year of Tianqi, and half of the national treasury and half of the internal funds were allocated, 50 taels per year.

After eight years of this, it cost 400 million taels of silver, but it still hasn't been completed.

It's just that there is an urgency right now, Zhu Ciran can only place his father in it first, and then finish it before the arrival of the vassal kings from all over the place.

On August [-]th, the emperor Zhu Ci burned Zhu Cijiong, the king of Ding, and the prince Zhu Heyin was in charge of the burial, accompanied by all civil and military officials.

After so many days of fermentation, at this time, many people in Daming already knew about Emperor Tianqi's great trip.

Although many people knew that their good days came from King Qi's innovation, they also knew that without the support of Emperor Tianqi, it would be difficult for King Qi to continue the innovation.

Therefore, the [-] million people of the Ming Dynasty hung white cloths on the door of their homes, and the people of Beijing even cried along the road early in the morning.

They cried all the way and followed the state funeral procession until they saw the coffin of Emperor Tianqi being sent to Beijing North Railway Station.

A moment later, a train to Changping departed.

Historical records: "The people along the way came to hear the news. The train passed through the villages and cities, and the people burned incense and worshiped, and cried for more than ten miles."

On both sides of the railway stood dense crowds of people dressed in sackcloth and filial piety. Because there were too many people who came to cry and see them off, the two sides of the railway were too crowded, so the train could only move forward slowly.

This kind of crowding stretched for more than [-] miles from Andingmen in Beijing to Changping. Hundreds of thousands of people came here spontaneously, most of them holding bouquets of flowers, and many of them burst into tears when they saw the train slowly approaching.

When the train stopped at Changping Railway Station, there were still more than ten miles of road left, and the coffin was replaced by a horse-drawn carriage as a hearse, and it slowly drove towards Tianshou Mountain.

The speed of the carriage was very slow, which gave the people time to gather, so when Zhu Heyin and Zhu Cijiong went to Tianshou Mountain, they could clearly see that the people were standing on both sides of the road, immersed in their own thoughts. In a world of grief.

Some people wailed and even fainted by the roadside due to lack of oxygen.

Such a grand scene is spontaneous and unorganized, and it is also an unprecedented funeral scene.

The people in the north participated in it, no matter how far or near, to send the last journey for Emperor Tianqi.

This situation continued until the carriage arrived at Tianshou Mountain, and the people were stopped at the foot of Tianshou Mountain.

Zhu Heyin and Zhu Cijiong took the officials to escort the coffin to climb the mountain. They didn't help the spirit to send the coffin into the underground palace until they reached the Shiling on the top of the mountain.

According to common sense, it should be placed on the 27th, and then wait for the representatives of the feudal lords to come to express their condolences.

However, at present, the feudal vassals of the Ming Dynasty are mainly overseas. It is okay for the Indian vassals and Qi vassals to reach Beijing in at most one and a half months, but the vassals of Kunlun Continent cannot.

Therefore, sending it to the underground palace, hanging the portrait of Emperor Daxing in the Ming Tower, and then the feudal vassals came to worship one after another is the current and future process.

In front of all the officials, Prince Zhu Heyin walked to the altar with a scroll in his hands.

He unfolded the scroll with the help of two officials, and the two officials who helped were stunned when they saw the content of the scroll, but quickly returned to normal and helped Zhu Heyin hang the painting.

"This……"

"How can you hang such a painting?"

"Look at the signature..."

When the picture scroll was raised, the officials in the hall began to discuss, only Zhu Heyin and Zhu Cijiong looked normal.

I saw a young figure clearly painted on the rising painting, and this figure was Zhu Youxiao.

The reason why the officials were surprised was that the technique of this painting was different from that of the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty. It used a similar realistic style of painting, and judging from the content, it seemed that the brush was not a traditional one.

This painting method seems to present a young Zhu Youxiao in his early twenties in front of the officials.

Some old officials stared at the painting in a daze, while the younger officials did not expect Emperor Daxing to look like this when he was young.

They were all talking about the violation of the painting style, but after seeing the signature of this scroll, they all shut their mouths.

【Treasure of King Qi】

Looking at the inscription, the officials were at a loss for words, never thought that a single sentence would almost offend King Qi.

"Disperse!"

A chorus from the Minister of Honglu Temple brought all the officials back to their senses, and all the officials left the Minglou with mixed feelings, and returned to the capital with Zhu Heyin and Zhu Cijiong.

However, when they descended the mountain, many white flowers were placed at the gate of Tianshoushan Imperial Mausoleum.

These flowers were spread all the way from Tianshou Mountain to Changping, and did not disappear until the officials returned to the capital by train.

In the next three months, the princes of various vassals arrived in the capital one after another, and went to Tianshou Mountain to pay homage to the mausoleum.

Among them, the one sent by the Qi State was not the prince, but Zhu Cihuang, the king of Langya County.

The reason why Zhu Cihuang was sent instead of Zhu Cihong was not because Qi State was unruly, but because when the news of Zhu Youxiao's death reached Qi State, Qi King Zhu Youjian fainted and was bedridden.

Under such a situation, Zhu Cihuang could only sit in the state of Qi and sent Zhu Cihuang to express his condolences.

In such a situation, Zhu Ciran had already made psychological preparations in his heart, so he did not blame Zhu Cihuang, but cared about Zhu Youjian's physical condition.

Zhu Cihuang answered his question truthfully.

In recent years, Zhu Youjian's health has not been very good.

The fatigues of his youth, as well as the old diseases of the battlefield, were tormenting him, and he was often plagued by headaches.

For this disease, the imperial doctors of Qi State did not know how to treat it, but Zhu Youjian told the imperial doctors not to blame themselves, life and death are determined by themselves.

Hearing Zhu Cihuang's answer, Emperor Zhu Ciran didn't say anything, but just sighed, as if to say, "Such a person will be so embarrassed when he gets old."

After Zhu Ciran sighed, Zhu Cihuang proposed to take Zhu Hexuan back to China, and Zhu Ciran naturally accepted it with pleasure.

Seeing this, Zhu Cihuang didn't say anything more after a short reminiscence, but took Zhu Hexuan to Tianshou Mountain to pay homage to their emperor's uncle.

There are many people like them, so on Tianshou Mountain, many vassal kings surrounded Zhu Cihuang and the two, inquiring about the health condition of King Qi Zhu Youjian.

The common people may not be clear, but they are very clear in their hearts that it is nothing if the former emperor died. If the king of Qi passed away, it would really be a catastrophe.

Zhu Ciran had a bad attitude towards the feudal vassals when he was the prince. Now that the former emperor has passed away and Zhu Ciran has become the emperor, who knows if he will further sanction the feudal vassals?
Under such circumstances, the only person who can persuade Zhu Ciran is the King of Qi who is far away in Qi State.

Zhu Cihuang was very clear about the mentality of the feudal vassals, so he did not disclose the matter of Zhu Youjian's illness, but said that Zhu Youjian was in good health, but he was exhausted from the long journey.

Zhu Fan can understand such an explanation, after all, Zhu Youjian is 60 years old.

However, after expressing their understanding, the feudal vassals did not all leave.

The vassals in Kunlun Continent euphemistically expressed to Zhu Cihuang that they wanted Qi to open up immigration policies, but Zhu Cihuang could only say that he could not make the decision, and he needed to ask his father for instructions after returning to Qi.

After expressing their understanding, the feudal clans also left the venue one after another.

Since all the vassals had their own government affairs to be busy in the country, after the gatha worship, the vassals left Daming one after another.

Even Zhu Cihuang, who was detained by Zhu Ciran, also left by boat on the [-]th of Dongyue, and took Zhu Hexi away with him.

They rushed back to Qi State on New Year's Eve, and at this time Zhu Youjian had already come out of grief, but his body was weaker than before.

For Zhu Youjian, his brother's death was a bit cruel, but he had to face more than just his brother's death.

When the New Year's bell rang, the first year of Qiansheng became the new year name of the countries in the Ming Dynasty's vassal system.

At the Zhengdan court meeting in the New Year, Emperor Zhu Ciran announced that all provinces in the world would be exempted from agricultural taxes for one year, so that the people of the world could live and work in peace and contentment.

Secondly, he put the portraits of Zhu Youxiao, the emperor of the ancestors, and the heroes who made contributions to the country during the Tianqi period into the ninth floor of the Tiange, and King Qi was the deputy priest.

In addition, Zhu Ciran also announced the research results of the Armament Academy on some people's livelihood technologies.

Cotton gin, pencil, toilet brush, pen, nitrogen fertilizer...

Although these five studies are the subjects left by Zhu Youjian, they have already been studied.

From the looks of it, it seems that just five studies can't have any impact on the Ming Dynasty, but the nitrogen fertilizer in it will undoubtedly make the majority of farmers profit again.

As for pencils, pens, toilet brushes and cotton gins, they are more people-oriented.

At the Great Court Meeting, Zhu Ciran ordered the Ministry of Industry to build [-] small and medium-sized nitrogen fertilizer factories and [-] livelihood factories such as cotton gins and pens in the local area.

In addition, Zhu Ciran announced the expansion of potash and phosphate fertilizers, and no longer restricted the appearance of these fertilizers in the suzerain-vassal system.

Finally, restrictions on industrial products such as bicycles, cans, tricycles, pens, brushes, and pencils are also relaxed, and they can be exported to countries other than Ottomans, Mughals, and Persia.

Even though these goods would definitely flow into the Three Kingdoms after such a liberalization, Zhu Ciran still let it go.

He is very clear in his heart that Daming needs a prosperous economic market right now, so letting go of the customs is something he must do.

Facts have proved that his approach is extremely correct.

With the lifting of restrictions on some export commodities, Daming's market expanded again, which in turn affected the continuous increase of private factories.

For private businessmen, although the domestic market has been solidified, the foreign market is still a blue ocean.

It is impossible for Huangdian to have too much influence in places where Daming can't influence.

So in Europe, they can win through price.

The advantage of private companies over state companies is that they can keep reducing costs while imperial stores cannot.

In terms of wages stipulated by the Ming Dynasty, some factories in Huangdian can only maintain a daily price of [-] Wen, while private enterprises can use the lowest wage of [-] Wen.

In this way, there will be a profit gap of ten cents between the two, and private goods can completely engage in a price war at a lower price than the imperial store.

Although they squeezed the workers, what Daming needs to solve is the employment problem of the urban population when the general environment is not good.

Compared with the salary of [-] Wen, I can only have work for four or five months a year.

There are jobs throughout the year, but jobs with a salary of [-] yuan can better solve the living problems of the people.

Only when most people have jobs can the problem of wages be further resolved.

These methods were taught by Zhu Youjian to Zhu Ciran through letters.

Although he sometimes wants to prove himself, he is very clear that he is not as good as his uncle when it comes to financial matters.

Therefore, under his practice of letting things go, Daming's policy quickly produced results.

At the Zhengdan court meeting in the second year of Qiansheng, Chen Tingjing, Minister of the Household Department, revealed the policy achievements of Ming Dynasty last year.

Against the background of large-scale infrastructure construction and urban recruitment, the stable employment population of ordinary people in the capital has increased by [-]%, and that of local counties and towns has increased by [-]%.

It doesn't seem like much, but if you take it step by step, then Daming's economic problems will be easily solved.

Such achievements further strengthened Zhu Ciran's thinking. He implemented Zhu Youjian's suggestions one by one, and at the same time, the world was enjoying the convenience brought by Ming's commodities, mainly food.

In the context of the global grain production reduction in Little Ice River, the Ming Dynasty's vassal system with chemical fertilizers has become a major exporter of grain.

According to the statistics of Isaac Newton, a member of the British Royal Society, from February to May 1672, the Port of London received about 2 million pounds of grain, equivalent to more than 5 tons of grain in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, there are 20 residents in the entire city of London, and the food is enough for the residents of the city of London to eat for two months.

Similarly, the grain under the vassal system of the Ming Dynasty continued to flow into countries with coastlines, and seized the local grain market at extremely low prices.

In June, the French Minister of Finance suggested to Louis XIV that he hoped to prohibit the influx of food from the Ming suzerain system into France, but Louis XIV refused.

The reason for Louis XIV's refusal was simple, that is, he was preparing to launch a war...

(End of this chapter)